Subscribe to this blog

Don't miss a thing! Get the emails here:

Search This Blog

Are homeschoolers still Weirdos? Story at 11.

"How many of you Homeschoolers can acknowledge that you're Weirdos?"I heard this question posed recently. The lead up was that, years ago, all homeschoolers dressed weird, acted weird, and were, stated simply enough, a big group of Weirdos. But the problem the Asker had was that, all these years later, no matter what we say about it, the weirdo-ness seems to persist. Homeschoolers are not normal. Homeschoolers are still creepy Weirdos.For those of you that don't fit in my particular demographic, there's something you need to know here. We homeschoolers love, love to talk about how cool we've gotten. We dress better. We act better. And we like to sit around and discuss exactly how much homeschooling has changed over the years. "Well you see, back in the day, homeschooling was strange. Once upon a time, only Weirdos would homeschool. But now, it's gone totally mainstream! I mean, look at us! We're not weirdos.""We're not weirdos.""For serious, believe me, we're not weirdos."And sometimes I look around and think, um.... yeah. You definitely are. The weirdest weirdy Weirdos I've ever seen. You Weirdos.Super sorry if that's insulting, but yes, you are weirdos. Your husbands are weirdos. And your kids are definitely, definitely weirdos.And that got me thinking. Holy buckets. Maybe I'm a weirdo too.

Math lessons. Weirdos in Pajamas. Pajamas forever.

Technically speaking, the definition of Weirdo is: Someone that I personally find to be socially unacceptable, outside of the norm, and generally different and strange. And unpleasant. And gross.That's the truth. Check Webster's.*Anyway, the point is, we typically decide someone is weird when they don't look "normal" to us. And the problem with that is, I literally always look normal to myself. In fact, I am, by definition, my entire standard of normal.But then I thought about it some more.I was a chubby and awkward young child. I was best known at my school for always having my nose stuck in a book**. I was good at school and bad at sports. In short, I was a dork. A friendless, chubby, obsessive, rule-following little dork.

Ashley, age 10. Shape of: Potato.

And the dork found a boy who was also considered a little odd. And they got married and then made some follow-up humans. And then they decided to avoid letting the follow-up humans go into the child-rearing factory that is the, ehem, "SCHOOL SYSTEM", so they got to spend more time with their weirdo parents and less time learning how to dress and act and be like all the other kids their age.Fun story? That is not a great way to make normal people. And we didn't make normal people. We made this:

My children. Middle of the school day. Getting lots of knowledge.

And I think... I don't know what I think. My kids aren't going to be normal. That much is true. They are different. They are different from me. They are different from each other. And staying in our dorky homeschool bubble means they'll probably keep being different.

My 3 year old with his little friend, petting a rabbit and explaining the meaning of life to the kind fellow who works at the Discovery Center.

So in the end? Crap yes we're a bunch of Weirdos. We're different people who have made a different choice. The fact that we've kept our children out of school means that they will grow up to reflect their own personalities... and the eccentricities of their own terrifying families, instead of working so hard to emulate their super cool peers.So yeah. They will dress like weirdos. They will act like weirdos. They will be weirdos. But really? Who gives a crap. Because normal is boring. Because cool kids are bungholes. And because personally? I really hate boring bungholes.

Sister Friends.

So you do you, my crazy bunch of Weirdos. Dress stupid. Learn Wisdom. Follow Jesus. And you know what? Be funnier than the pretty kids. Because guys? That's how you're gonna rock this world.

WEIRDOS FOREVER.

*Don't check Webster's.**Which on more than 1 occasion, caused me to accidentally walk into the wrong classroom. Or bathroom. HINT: If you want friends in elementary and junior high school, don't become so engrossed in books that you walk into the wrong bathroom. Just don't. In fact to be safe, don't even learn to read. Reading is for Weirdos.

I'm a wife and a homeschool mom. I have a super great husband and four of the strangest, most adorable children I've ever personally had the pleasure of meeting. I work with kids with Autism. And I really, really love Jesus. I'm here to share some of that journey, the funny stories, the lessons learned, and all the craziness that comes along the way!